Yet another suspect, Tzur Israel Bengusi, a notorious extremist from Kiryat Arba, has been arrested as a member of “The Rebellion” settler terror cell.

His name and arrest are under gag order in Israel. He has been arrested previously and placed under restrictions by the Shabak for prior acts of violence.

Elisha Odess, one of the suspected killers of Dawabshe family. Caption: “We only have the Lord Blessed be He. We only fear Him.”

Israel has been awash in news and controversy about the four suspects in the Dawabsheh arson murders. Though their names are under gag order in Israel, I’ve reported all four of them here. Their lawyers and the terror support group, Honenu, have complained vigorously about alleged torture inflicted on their clients. This is treatment routinely inflicted on Palestinian security detainees imprisoned for far less severe crimes. Settlers and their facilitators never utter a word of complaint about this system, only caring for the welfare of “their own,” that is, Jews.

There appears to be a political conflict between the intelligence apparatus and the settler lobby. The latter persuaded defense minister Bogie Yaalon, who is a close ally of theirs, to release a statement a few days ago that implied the case might be dropped for lack of evidence. He said that the suspects had confessed to lesser acts of terror, but that Shabak came up empty regarding the murders. I took that as a shot across the bow of the Shabak and police on behalf of the settlers.

Today, 1,000 settler supporters rallied in Jerusalem near Yoram Cohen’s home. Nearly 100 of them tried to physically storm the site, but were prevented by the police. In the many years I’ve written this blog I’ve never heard of protesters storming the home of any intelligence chief...